Trainee Train Driver - Virgin Trains East Coast

[Kaltias]

You’ve not been offered a job unless you have a contract and a start date. That’s the bottom line.

The wording in their email says it’s an offer of position subject to medical..

I do think it’s important not to put all your eggs in one basket, but VTEC have made comment about another trainee driver recruitment drive after this one due to natural wastage etc, so I don’t think we have anything to seriously worry about at this stage, may just be a very long wait but considering some wait for years I don’t think it’s usual for these positions. There’s a lot of variable factors in the process.

 

[heedfan]

You’ve not been offered a job unless you have a contract and a start date. That’s the bottom line.

I see what you’re getting at here but you are confusing being offered a job and actually starting employment with a TOC. There is a clear difference and I think your comment is unhelpful when you don’t know the full details of the situation. We have all been offered positions. None of us will be ‘safe’ until we have a contract and a start date, that is obvious from the concerns that have been discussed in the recent posts on this thread. As I say, you don’t know the specific circumstances and you haven’t read the full correspondence so if you are simply going to scaremonger and spout cliches about how nothing is 100% certain until it’s written in stone/blood/engine oil then I think you are wasting your time as that has already be established.

 

[WCMLaddict]

I’m not going to get with you into some silly arguments.

You can take some insight from me or not.

 

[Major14]

I’ve heard that the existing drivers are unhappy with the potential loss of their overtime when the new drivers start. Maybe Virgin are appeasing them by reducing the number of new drivers?

 

[choochoochoo]

I’ve heard that the existing drivers are unhappy with the potential loss of their overtime when the new drivers start. Maybe Virgin are appeasing them by reducing the number of new drivers?

You'd have thought those talented people in the talent team would've thought about this before deciding to recruit so many newbies though.

 

[FManc]

I’ve heard that the existing drivers are unhappy with the potential loss of their overtime when the new drivers start. Maybe Virgin are appeasing them by reducing the number of new drivers?

I really can't see any truth is. Whilst the railway does run on overtime, it is not 100% garuanteed. The company aren't going to stop recruiting drivers in fear of taking the existing overtime. It's just bonkers.

 

[Skyrail]

A lot of speculation appearing on here again and whilst some of it could be true, much of it likely isn't. I doubt any business would invest the time and resources in (over) recruiting that VTEC have on this campaign, unless there had been a drastic and unforeseen change of circumstances. For the 43 of us left in limbo all we can do is to hope we hear good news before the 6 months is up and take the company at their word so insofar as they genuinely do intend to give us all start dates as soon as they're able.

 

[FManc]

A lot of speculation appearing on here again and whilst some of it could be true, much of it likely isn't. I doubt any business would invest the time and resources in (over) recruiting that VTEC have on this campaign, unless there had been a drastic and unforeseen change of circumstances. For the 43 of us left in limbo all we can do is to hope we hear good news before the 6 months is up and take the company at their word so insofar as they genuinely do intend to give us all start dates as soon as they're able.

Totally agree!
I think people need to remember that there's a lot of natural wastage coming up at VTEC, the arrival of the new trains, as well as the fact VTEC are expanding their timetable in 2019.

 

[heedfan]

A lot of speculation appearing on here again and whilst some of it could be true, much of it likely isn't. I doubt any business would invest the time and resources in (over) recruiting that VTEC have on this campaign, unless there had been a drastic and unforeseen change of circumstances. For the 43 of us left in limbo all we can do is to hope we hear good news before the 6 months is up and take the company at their word so insofar as they genuinely do intend to give us all start dates as soon as they're able.

Great post.

 

[Eccles1983]

You'd be wrong for assuming that they wouldnt just pull the plug on you waiting.

It has and will continue to happen for as long as the railway is still running.

Search this site alone for multiple examples of "change of business needs"

It costs in between 50-100k to train a mainline driver. All it takes is a change in the HR or senior group management and whoosh, they have saved 4m quid.

Its far cheaper and quicker to recruit qualified. And as great as the fanfare was announcing the new driver positions the railway can be cruel at the best of times.

Sorry for pissing on chips, but what WCMLaddict says is absolutely correct.

 

[baz962]

You'd be wrong for assuming that they wouldnt just pull the plug on you waiting.

It has and will continue to happen for as long as the railway is still running.

Search this site alone for multiple examples of "change of business needs"

It costs in between 50-100k to train a mainline driver. All it takes is a change in the HR or senior group management and whoosh, they have saved 4m quid.

Its far cheaper and quicker to recruit qualified. And as great as the fanfare was announcing the new driver positions the railway can be cruel at the best of times.

Sorry for ****ing on chips, but what WCMLaddict says is absolutely correct.

Also if you look at different post's on different thread's It is painfully obvious that they do not care about the cost of putting you through the psychometric's. Many people including me have passed these and yet still no job and when I apply to different toc's they take on people without these. Although we have no right to a job you would think they could save themselves a fortune by taking these people on first, and as an example I applied for the East midland's depot trainee job and did not get past the first sift for that but noticed they were putting the top 25% of applicant's through for testing. They eventually got 2000 application's so that's over 500 for testing and although they over subscribe because some people don't pass, that is a lot of people for a handful of jobs so taking into account that 20 to 40% of people pass them that's 100 to 200 people or more for testing so putting you through the psychometric's is to them pocket money imo.

 

[Kaltias]

You'd be wrong for assuming that they wouldnt just pull the plug on you waiting.

It has and will continue to happen for as long as the railway is still running.

Search this site alone for multiple examples of "change of business needs"

It costs in between 50-100k to train a mainline driver. All it takes is a change in the HR or senior group management and whoosh, they have saved 4m quid.

Its far cheaper and quicker to recruit qualified. And as great as the fanfare was announcing the new driver positions the railway can be cruel at the best of times.

Sorry for ****ing on chips, but what WCMLaddict says is absolutely correct.

Yeah but their ‘change of business needs’ is new traction, increased service frequency and an increase in natural wastage. I previously worked for VTEC and know invididuals that still do, some which are internal candidates waiting for trainee driver start dates with the exact same communication as the externals have and have received confirmation of these timescales from their own line managers.

I don’t know why we are all making such a fuss about this, as I said before we are all aware it may not come off, and discussion about it won’t make it more or less likely but only serve to frustrate some already very frustrated individuals. It does no good to speculate either way, just remain realistic.

 

[Skyrail]

Yeah but their ‘change of business needs’ is new traction, increased service frequency and an increase in natural wastage. I previously worked for VTEC and know invididuals that still do, some which are internal candidates waiting for trainee driver start dates with the exact same communication as the externals have and have received confirmation of these timescales from their own line managers.

I don’t know why we are all making such a fuss about this, as I said before we are all aware it may not come off, and discussion about it won’t make it more or less likely but only serve to frustrate some already very frustrated individuals. It does no good to speculate either way, just remain realistic.

A good point, well made. Like I said before, all we can do is to remain positive and wait.

 

[FManc]

Yeah but their ‘change of business needs’ is new traction, increased service frequency and an increase in natural wastage. I previously worked for VTEC and know invididuals that still do, some which are internal candidates waiting for trainee driver start dates with the exact same communication as the externals have and have received confirmation of these timescales from their own line managers.

I don’t know why we are all making such a fuss about this, as I said before we are all aware it may not come off, and discussion about it won’t make it more or less likely but only serve to frustrate some already very frustrated individuals. It does no good to speculate either way, just remain realistic.

Totally agree on all points! Let's stay positive.

 

[WCMLaddict]

Staying positive shouldn’t make you ignore facts that VTEC covers ‘natural wastage’ with qualified and internal candidates (always did that) and the trainee recruitment was only part of Azuma programme implementation.

By any means stay positive but also realistic.
Please note that Kaltias is not the only person on this forum that knows individuals...

 

[HTBFD]

That's not the case, VTEC advised that the first wave of trainees at least would initially be trained on the existing fleet, then move onto Azuma.
Also, trainees are indeed replacing retiring drivers, as well as expansion of course.

 

[FManc]

Staying positive shouldn’t make you ignore facts that VTEC covers ‘natural wastage’ with qualified and internal candidates (always did that) and the trainee recruitment was only part of Azuma programme implementation.

By any means stay positive but also realistic.
Please note that Kaltias is not the only person on this forum that knows individuals...

I see your point of view and it's pretty much the same where I work.

However we were told on the group assessment day that they were keen to bring in "fresh blood" and could have chosen to go down the route of internal/qualified only. Clearly they've chosen to do things differently this time. I can't remember the last time East or West Coast advertised for trainees externally (and they certainly have no need to with the number of internal candidates) but there was an obvious wish to do so.

 

[Kaltias]

Staying positive shouldn’t make you ignore facts that VTEC covers ‘natural wastage’ with qualified and internal candidates (always did that) and the trainee recruitment was only part of Azuma programme implementation.

By any means stay positive but also realistic.
Please note that Kaltias is not the only person on this forum that knows individuals...

Hence why I ended my post with ‘remain realistic’.

I never once insinuated I was the only one who ‘knew individuals’, however as l’m sure you’ll be aware the railway is full of Chinese whispers and half-truths and I’m just trying to give people the same little bit of hope I was given. All I’m trying to do is put a bit of positivity back into this as it has turned very negative over the last few days. Being realistic doesn’t always need to equate to being completely negative, look at both sides.

Anyway, this’ll be my last post on the matter until further news comes out.

 

[vintagegt]

Hence why I ended my post with ‘remain realistic’.

I never once insinuated I was the only one who ‘knew individuals’, however as l’m sure you’ll be aware the railway is full of Chinese whispers and half-truths and I’m just trying to give people the same little bit of hope I was given. All I’m trying to do is put a bit of positivity back into this as it has turned very negative over the last few days. Being realistic doesn’t always need to equate to being completely negative, look at both sides.

Anyway, this’ll be my last post on the matter until further news comes out.

Same here. I’m outta here until we get any further news.

Have a great Christmas everyone. Soon be April! ;o)

 

[manlikedriver]

There are only currently 3 external courses with the latest few just started a few weeks ago. They are recruiting an extra Driver Team Manager at King's Cross and Leeds with anticipation of more drivers due to there being a limit on the ratio of number of drivers to DTMs.

Also, the first external course is due to finish their course around the end of March which is probably why they've given the April timescale. On top of that, you may already know that the Azumas have been pushed back to December 2018 anyway. So honestly, don't panic. I do think it's sad to have to wait almost a year and a half from initially applying to even getting a start date and I wish everyone well.

For those that live in London, I hear ArrivaRail London are recruiting. You would have passed all competencies already so may well be worth having a look.

 

[FManc]

There are only currently 3 external courses with the latest few just started a few weeks ago. They are recruiting an extra Driver Team Manager at King's Cross and Leeds with anticipation of more drivers due to there being a limit on the ratio of number of drivers to DTMs.

Also, the first external course is due to finish their course around the end of March which is probably why they've given the April timescale. On top of that, you may already know that the Azumas have been pushed back to December 2018 anyway. So honestly, don't panic. I do think it's sad to have to wait almost a year and a half from initially applying to even getting a start date and I wish everyone well.

For those that live in London, I hear ArrivaRail London are recruiting. You would have passed all competencies already so may well be worth having a look.

Cheers for the info! It certainly reinforces the idea that there will hopefully be a job offer at some point down the line.
Out of interest do you know how many trainees you can roughly have in a training course?

 

[Sirgerbil]

For those that live in London, I hear ArrivaRail London are recruiting. You would have passed all competencies already so may well be worth having a look.

You do have to do extra physcometrics for Arriva so expect some additional testing if you apply.

In terms of amount of trainee's per course, I think its been between 8-12. My course was 8 of us, the latest group is 12.

 

[FManc]

In terms of amount of trainee's per course, I think its been between 8-12. My course was 8 of us, the latest group is 12.

Ah so if we get taken on, we're looking at roughly 4 more courses if there's 43 of us left.

 

[Yorks12]

I know this thread is for Trainee Drivers but just wondered if anyone knew about start dates for TM’s. I passed all the selection process back at the beginning of Oct for Doncaster and was told by their Talent Team they would let me know about Doncaster positions “ASAP”. Since then I have heard nothing (other than sending through all my details to be added to the payroll) and they are seemingly ignoring all my emails :/

 

[FManc]

I know this thread is for Trainee Drivers but just wondered if anyone knew about start dates for TM’s. I passed all the selection process back at the beginning of Oct for Doncaster and was told by their Talent Team they would let me know about Doncaster positions “ASAP”. Since then I have heard nothing (other than sending through all my details to be added to the payroll) and they are seemingly ignoring all my emails :/

You've just got to be patient I'm afraid mate. They'll email you when they're in a position to. They wouldn't have forgotten about you and tbh emailing them won't normally generate a response back. Most of us in this thread have been waiting for six months or more and have another six left to wait. Obviously I don't think you'll have to wait that long for TM as the courses aren't as long.

 

[Me2me]

As it currently stands there are more trainees then there are jobs.
If you have passed your phsycometric test I would seriously consider taking advantage of that and use it at another TOC.
There are more qualified drivers starting in the new year in January, there arnt many drivers planning on leaving VTEC in the near future so the natural wastage thing at present is a myth.
I think more people passed the assessment than they thought leaving a surplus in the pool, I doubt very much that 43 more trainees will be taken on.

 

[Me2me]

As it currently stands there are more trainees then there are jobs.
If you have passed your phsycometric test I would seriously consider taking advantage of that and use it at another TOC.
There are more qualified drivers starting in the new year in January, there arnt many drivers planning on leaving VTEC in the near future so the natural wastage thing at present is a myth.
I think more people passed the assessment than they thought leaving a surplus in the pool, I doubt very much that 43 more trainees will be taken on.

Also the new driver manager positions are needed for the already increased establishments in London and Yorkshire

 

[Duns2208]

All become very negative on here of late, listening to whispers from faceless people when none of us can ever determine if it’s fact or fiction is neither helpful or productive. I’m coming off here for now, hope all those waiting on good news have a very happy Christmas and fingers crossed for a good new year (particularly around May time). All the best to all and please keep the faith, it was your positive attitude that made Virgin want you in the first place and why they wanted to move away from the old railway attitude which seems very prevalent within these threads. Job or no job you made it from 15,000 people down to the last 43 that should make you proud. Good luck

 

[Sirgerbil]

I really wouldn't listen to all the hearsay. I can imagine it's difficult to sit there and have to wait for a start date but I'm sure it will come.

They are recruiting OTDM's (one has already started, one starts in January), DTM's and DI's. To me it show's all the signs they are committed to fulfilling their aim of 78 new recruits. It's just a matter of alot of trainee's going through the ropes at various stages currently.

I'm due to pass out around March, The next course around April, The next around May and the following July. I'm sure that as soon as at least two of these courses pass out there will be movement.

 

[HTBFD]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp....se-terminated-three-years-early-virgin-trains

Thoughts on this anyone? I guess Azumas will still need drivers but things not looking all that promising for those of us still waiting.